HONG KONG, May 1 (Reuters) - Macau, the world's biggest casino hub, posted a drop of 9.5 percent in gambling revenue for April, with the pace of decline decreasing from the previous month as the southern Chinese territory struggled to lure high-spending punters.

April marked the 23rd consecutive monthly decline for the former Portuguese colony, where revenue has halved over the last two years and hit lows not seen in over five years.

China's pervasive campaign against conspicuous spending among public officials together with slowing economic growth are widely regarded as the central reasons behind the slump.

April revenue fell to 17.34 billion patacas ($2.17 billion), government data showed on Sunday, though the decline was not as bad as the 11-16 percent drop that analysts had expected.

($1 = 7.9810 patacas) (Reporting by Donny Kwok and Farah Master; Editing by Kim Coghill)